


Promises to Keep

by watcherofworlds



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe), Episode: s05e09 Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One, Mentions of Major Character Death, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21827287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: Mia fulfills a promise she made to one parent, and makes another promise to the other.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 48





	Promises to Keep

**Author's Note:**

> I'm aware that what happens in this fic is no longer canonically relevant because of what happens in part 2 of Crisis, but I was halfway through it by the time Part 2 aired, and I felt compelled to finish it regardless. Hope you enjoy!

Standing at the end of a long gravel drive that led to a cabin tucked away in the woods, Mia thought of the last time she had been here, the day she’d run away from home. She had stood in this exact spot and allowed herself exactly one glance back before she’d gone on her way, filled with anger and hatred toward her mother that she now knew to be unjust. But, she reminded herself, that hadn’t happened yet. Right now, she was still in that cabin, nothing but a baby, innocent, utterly unaware of just who her parents were, of the mantle she would one day be expected to carry, that she carried now in the green leather and hood that she wore, in the quiver on her back and the bow in her hand.

Mia took a few steps forward, gravel crunching beneath the soles of her boots, then stopped. She didn’t want to do this. She  _ couldn’t _ do this. 

_ But I have promises to keep _ . The line from her mother’s favorite poem- her favorite, she said, because it reminded her of Mia’s father- sprang suddenly into her mind. It was hard  _ not _ to see its relevance to the current situation. She’d made promises to her father in those final moments, promises to find her mother, find William, and tell them how much he loved them. And now, however hard it was, however much it would hurt, Mia had to keep those promises.

Letting that thought spur her on, Mia continued on her way, down the gravel drive and up the front steps of the cabin’s wraparound porch. She paused for a moment before the front door, to compose herself, to gather her resolve, before rapping her knuckles against it in three short, sharp knocks. There was silence for a moment, then the faint sound of footsteps, the familiar soft  _ thump _ of bare feet against hardwood flooring, and the door opened a crack and Mia’s mother, twenty years younger than she’d been the last time she’d seen her, was looking out at her. She watched her in silence, studying her with narrowed eyes. Her stance suggested that she was holding a weapon of some kind hidden behind her back, ready to use it to defend herself at the slightest provocation. That, Mia understood. Slade Wilson, Brother Blood, Adrian Chase, Ricardo Diaz, eight years of working and being associated with Star City’s vigilante would have taught her that no one came to her door unannounced with good intentions.

“Oh my God,” her mother said suddenly, swinging the door wide. “Mia?” Mia wondered how she knew, then realized that she looked like her and was dressed like her father. It probably wasn’t that hard to figure out. 

“But…” her mother went on, trailing off as she glanced behind her toward the bedroom. Mia guessed that she was trying to figure out how this was possible, how her daughter could be in two places at once, could be two  _ ages _ at once, both the baby in the crib in her bedroom and the woman standing outside her door. Then, after a moment, she laughed quietly and said, “Well, Barry got a visit from his adult daughter from the future not too long ago. I guess it’s my turn. What brings you here?” At those words, Mia felt her heart break all over again because she had  _ no idea _ . No idea what had happened to her husband, to the man she had loved and fought beside for eight years, no idea what the Crisis had just done to their family. And suddenly, Mia felt the words she’d come to say get caught in her throat, cutting off her air supply, making her have to gasp for every breath she took.

“Dad, he- he asked me to find you,” she managed to choke out. “Find you, and tell you how much he loves you.”

“I don’t understand,” her mother replied, frowning. “Your father knows where I am. Why didn’t he just come and tell me himself?” Mia opened her mouth to answer, but no sound came out. She saw her mother’s gaze alight on the bow in her hand, the quiver on her back- the same bow and quiver that, twenty years from now, she would leave buried on Lian Yu for William and Roy to find and bring back to Star City and Roy would end up giving to her- and saw the moment recognition dawned in her eyes. 

“No,” she mumbled, backing away from Mia and the door. “No.” She repeated the word over and over, her voice growing in desperation and volume, until she screamed it in a raw, jagged voice that quickly dissolved into painful, broken sobs. She collapsed, her knees buckling suddenly, and Mia surged forward to catch her, tossing her bow aside, slipping the straps of her quiver off her shoulders and letting it fall to the ground, heedless of the arrows that were sent clattering across the porch by the impact, but she wasn’t fast enough. All she could do was watch as her mother managed to catch hold of one corner of the coffee table as she fell, using it to keep herself upright as she crouched, crying so hard that her whole body shook.

Mia stood by and watched, feeling her heart break for her mother but finding herself at a loss. It had always been her father’s arms that caught her mother when she fell, his hands that held her together when she fell apart. Mia was not her father, and she had no idea what comfort she could possibly offer her mother at a time like this, even such comfort even existed, which she doubted.

“Mom-” she started to say, thinking that she should at least  _ try _ .

“You don’t understand,” her mother interjected in a hoarse voice. “I  _ promised _ . I promised him that I’d find him again, no matter where he was, but how can I keep that promise if he’s…” She trailed off, leaving the rest of her sentence unsaid.

_ Dead _ , Mia found herself finishing it in her mind.  _ If he’s dead _ . And suddenly she found herself filled with resolve for one thing and one thing only- she would find some way to fix this. In this world of the impossible becoming possible that they lived in, if death could be cheated, then why couldn’t it be reversed?

“Mom,” she said, softly, gently, crouching down in front of her and laying a hand on her shoulder. When their eyes met, she went on, “I’m going to find some way to fix this, I promise. I’m going to find some way to bring him back.” She pulled her mother into a stiff hug, stiff because the latter was still too shocked and numbed by recent news to return it, then backed up and levered herself to her feet. She picked up her bow from where she had dropped it, and gathered up her scattered arrows, returning them to her quiver before slipping her arms through its straps. The weight that Mia felt settle against her back as it fell into place was more than just its weight. It was the weight of mother’s grief as well as her own, the weight of the promises she made, of the mantle and the legacy that were now hers to carry. She knew that she had a lot of work to do.


End file.
